Auditor General's Report on the Public Accounts of Montserrat 2004

55. The graph below highlights expenditure by cost categories and gives
relative percentages used per cost category.
DIAGRAM 4
2004 RECURRENT EXPENDITURE
BY COST CATEGORIES
OTHER EXPENDITURE
15%
SOCIAL SERVICES
3%
DEBT
1%
PERSONAL EMOLUMENTS
30%
TRANSFERS & SUBSIDIES
24%
GOODS & SERVICES
14%
PENSION & GRATUITIES
13%
2.3.7 Expenditure Control
56. Warrants. Five (5) Virement Warrants were approved by the Ministry
of Finance to allow ministries and departments to transfer funds from one
subhead to another. As mentioned earlier one (1) Supplementary Estimates
was also issued.
57. Reconciliation Statements. Some managers and supervisors continue
to disregard the importance of performing regular reconciliations of their
accounts despite repeated reminders. In some cases, it appears as if
regular supervision and monitoring is not being done in a timely manner. This
has resulted in a number of sub-heads being overspent.
58. It is important for Accounting Officers to make a member of their
staff responsible for ensuring that reconciliations are done in a timely
manner. Supervision and monitoring of this internal control activity is of
paramount importance if Accounting Officers want to avoid being
surcharged.
59. Over-expenditure. A review of the Annual Abstract of Receipts and
Payments revealed that the over-expenditures resulted in the Consolidated
Fund Services and the Ministry of Communication and Works total
allocations being over-spent by $935,987 and $811,143 respectively.
Further analysis of the Statement of Votes in Excess for the fiscal year
15